Setting Fire
by UnSewn
Summary: Kasai is a normal, 8 year old girl who practices alchemy, hiding it from her mother, step-father and step-brother. Her life is about to change when a series of unfortunate events plays over inside her life. What will she do?  UnSewn
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Starting anew:  
>My eyes flickered open once the light of morning squeezed it's way through my eyelids. Rubbing them gently, I lifted myself up and silently yawned to myself. Looking out the window, I saw a beautiful sight of the sunrise, growing slowly over the hills. Kogata looked even more stunning this morning then any other, picking myself up off of my bed, I dragged my feet to the closet, grabbing black jeans, a red tank, my trademark black jacket with a fire sign on the back, and headed towards my bathroom. I grabbed the cold, still damp, nob of my shower, and twisted it, turning it on. Cold shower water sprung out of the faucet and attacked my hand mercilessly, covering my now bare skin with goosebumps. I flicked my wrist forward to get rid of the excess water and waited for it to warm up. Once it was warm enough to be content with, I slid myself into the running waterfall and allowed my red hair to suck up all water available. After I lathered, rinsed, and repeated, I stepped out of the shower and dried myself off quickly before being comforted by the arms of my clothes. I walked to the sink and brushed my hair, giving it a good rubdown with the towel before heading out of my room, and down the carpet painted steps. "Hello, Kasai, your mother went out to the store, your brother's at school, and I was just about to leave for work, if you don't mind, can you clean up here?" My step-father asked, indicating the left over dishes. I nodded silently before he trailed out the door, mumbling the tasks he needed to finish. Heading up to the dishes that were already placed ruthlessly around the sink, I picked the sponge up and set the water on, starting the ordinary task of cleaning dishes.<p>

Not too long later, I heard the click of a door and turned from the book I was reading to set my eyes on my mom, her arms full of groceries. "Can you give me a hand, Kasai?" I nodded my head and ran to grab the heaviest bag, my mother giving me the lightest in turn. I treaded over to the counter and set down the bags, heading to put the items into the fridge. I heard an unsettling 'thud' that made me snap my head back in wonder. My mother, who was standing a second ago beside me, was now on the ground, panting ferociously. I ran over to her and slid down on my knees to meet her face to face. "Mom!" I called, being as calm as I could, I ran to grab the phone and called father first, before frantically following his order of 'calling the ambulance quickly'. "Yes, she's still breathing." I answered, impatient with how long these people were taking. No sooner did I hear sirens and see blue and red lights flashing in the windows, coloring the blue and white drapery with a mirage of light. "She's here!" One man yelled, shouting orders speedily. "Get her in the car now!" Another yelled over the commotion. I stood and found my brother and father post out beside the van, sad looks covering their faces. I ran to meet with them, flashing my head into their sights to get their attention. "Where're they taking her?" I asked, staring discontentedly at my mothers writhing body. "Don't worry, they'll help make her better." My step-brother, Daniel, assured, sending a helpful smile my way, as to tell me not to worry. We packed into my father's car and followed the ambulance down the bumpy road, towards the hospital.

The next day, I remember waking up to my father's voice before being able to open my eyes fully. Then, I remembered what had happened, and looked around the bare, desolate hospital walls. "K...Kas..ai..." I heard a voice whimper near me and I looked around to see a bed, where my mother lie, covered in IVs and and oxygen mask that was currently pulled down to talk to me. I rushed off the chair to stand beside my father and brother, looking intently down at mother's face. "Kasai... You...are such a good girl..." She inhaled from the mask before daring to speak more. "But...Mom's got to go...I'll...I'll watch over you...ok?...From h...heaven...my little...a..angel..."

At her last verse, she smiled sincerely towards me and held my hand tight, before closing her eyes, and becoming a statue in the white hospital. My father let out a desperate cry for my mother and weeped into her bed sheets, while my brother faced his head down, covering it with his arm, trying to stay strong. I stared down at the hand that, just mere seconds ago, was holding on with faith, love, warmth. But now, the feeling the hand left, lying limp over my small hand, was sadness, coldness, and something dead.

The funeral we held was as normal as any other, only the village friends of my mothers came, and we stood, like stone pillars in a novel, staring down at the small, unscathed grave, which, embedded into the harsh ground, held a small angel-like sculpture of a child, one requested from mother herself, in a letter, before she died. I looked at my brother, who's attempts to stay strong were revealed as his eyes became red and puffy. "She's watching, you know," I said, catching his attention. "She's watching us, so I don't think she'd want to see you cry." I didn't know much about consoling or much of anything, since I was still 8, but I didn't like it, not when men did it any ways, I didn't like crying.

He gave me a wavering smile before he patted my head and brought me into a loving embrace. "Mom...was right..." I looked up at him, his head above mine. "You...You really are an angel...you really are." He let me go and smiled at me, then played with my hair absentmindedly as we drove home in silence.

Those three days had gone by so quickly, before I knew it, it had been almost a year since her death. Also, father had started to become more distant, and was constantly hiding himself inside his office, indulging himself in his 'joys' of alchemy. Daniel was also distancing himself from the family, hanging out with his friends rather than at home. Often, I was left home alone, eating breakfast in silence, and teaching myself alchemy quietly in the background. I wasn't upset, though it would be nice to be able to live as a family again, I was content to where I was right now.

I grabbed everyone's breakfast out of the fridge, two eggs and some left-over pancake batter, then grabbed out two small pans and broke the eggs onto one, and poured the batter on the other. After successfully making breakfast for all of us, I grabbed the plates of servings and went forward, towards my father's office. My heart skipped a beat, as did my steps when I heard my father's strange laugh. The sound of it resonated around my mind before I could react. Dropping the food, I ran into his office, panic stretched across my features. My father stood, hunched forward, staring at a pile of ash and material in front of his feet, the heap of minerals sat upon a transmutation circle, one that I had recognized in fear. The transmutation circle was one of human transmutation, a forbidden task, no matter the circumstance.

"Ahhhhh... You're here! Come in! Come in! I'll need more material...yes...more...more..." He mumbled, motioning me in before staring back at the pile. "F...Father...Are you...trying to...?" I stammered, fear rising inside of my throat, making me feel as if I was going to puke. "Can't you see? We can't live with out her! We just can't! That's why you...you are going to help!" My eyes widened to his response, and I backed up, to be met with a wall. I knew most of the ingredeiants, water...minerals...and...blood, human blood. That's what he wants me to help with...he wants me to give my life to bring back mom... I gasped at my realization and shook my head.

No one's P.O.V:

"Oh? But you will!"

He screamed in madness as he thrust his hands down on the transmutation circle, starting the glowing lights, surrounding both of us. It looked almost heavenly to start with, but soon, the lights turned threatening and a large, perplexing gate struck it's way in front of the man and his step-daughter. The girl stared in fear and disbelief, whilst the man looked insanely towards the gate, smiling a madman's smile as he pointed to his daughter. "HERE! HERE SHE IS! THIS IS THE ONE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR! TAKE HER! TAKE HER AND BRING BACK MY LOVE!" The man screamed.

The gate opened, to reveal a small boy, enshrouded in darkness, only his eyes could be made out. Behind him, thousands of souls blanketed by darkness, grabbed out to thin air, stressing themselves to leave the hell. As the boy moved forward, the man looked excitedly forward. Unfortunately, the man was lifted, surprised, and dragged into the flaming gate, having each hand pull individual pieces of his body off, and stealing the parts until there was nothing left of the wicked man. The girl still looked frightened, and let out a shriek of terror once she saw her step-father's bones be taken, straight out of his skin. She pushed herself against the wall, forcefully groveling in her terror, once the boy moved forward. The boy moved closer, but was restrained by the gate. Being able to reach her left hand, he grabbed it, right out of her body. She screamed in pain as she held her gushing wrist. The little boy receded, still holding her hand, into the black abyss. After the chaos of the gate was finished, the girl twisted her head up to see what was left from the transmutation. "M...Mo...Mom?" She called, her voice cracking under pressure. "Agahhahkkkk..." The thing groaned, it was not her mother, though it had a human's head and a arm sticking out of a mass of the body, it was not human. It was a crumbling bundle of nerves, blood, guts and mass amounts of bones sticking this way and that. "AHHHH!" She screamed, frightened by her own voice. "Kasai?" Her brother screamed from the kitchen. Within seconds, he was beside her, fretting over her no-longer-there, wrist. Slightly turning his head, she stopped him, begging him to not look.

"Don't! Don't Look! That thing... It isn't human!" She knew that one more step into insanity would be her brothers undoing, but as fate would have it, he looked. The moment he saw the thing that lay in the middle of the study, his eyes widened and his breath quickened. "I...I'm sorry Kasai..." She turned her head to him in horror. "But...I'm going to go with mom..." He looked at her, took his amulet from his necklace that he got from her mother, and handed it to her. She took it, and, before she could say a word, he grabbed his pocket knife out of his bag and plunged it, deep inside his chest.

The girl let out a mind-churning scream before clenching her head in her hand, taking deep, slow, and controlled breaths.

After her breathing had normalized again, she sat up, a dead look etched into her eyes. She just strolled calmly into her kitchen, and grabbed a napkin, with which she created a tourniquet for her now-gushing wrist. She walked into her room and grabbed a wrench, within seconds she was working, single-handedly, on a mechanic hand for herself.

The girl had worked day and night, until her fatigue over came her and she passed out, content in escaping to her mind. Once she woke, though, she began unwrapping her hand and sterilizing it. She carefully inspected it until she took her human-like hand that she had created, and setting up the nerves, on her own. She was well self-taught to connect nerves, and even blood vessels, in to machinery. After almost an hour of clanking and readjusting, she took a deep breath, and grabbed a wooden pole. Placing the wood between her teeth, she bit down hard as she twisted two different switches, clanking her nerves, and blood vessels onto the auto-mail. She struggled out a gasp when she let go of the wood and let herself go into a comatose-state of relief from pain. Around two hours later, she was up on her feet and creating a sling for her moaning arm. She dressed, skipping a shower in case of infection, and went to clean the house. She just finished cleaning her, now desolate, brother's room, when she looked solemnly towards the depressing door to her father's office. Quietly, and stealthily, she made her way towards the office, but when she opened the door, it was not something she had ever imagined. The bloody hell that was remembrance of the night before, and the pile of bloody parts, was gone. The only thing left to remind her that it was not a dream that had occurred in her sleep, was the pendant, which she safely held, dear to her chest. She did not speak, not even a gasp was heard as she silently closed the door behind her. She raised her head and faced toward the ceiling, determined to carry on with her tasks, she headed to the kitchen and started her daily chores.


	2. Chapter 2: Never Gonna Be Alone

I don't own FullMetal Alchemist, hope you like! R&R!  
>~UnSewn~<p>

Chapter 2: Never Gonna Be Alone

Sweat trickled down a dark-red brow, tumbling down to the chin, where it was flicked aside by forces of gravity. A rising sun outlined the face; the face's features were memorable to any one man that saw her. If you looked closer, you could tell what she was doing, training. Her moves became fluent and flexible when she gracefully landed on her feet from a backflip. She raced back up to the dummy that stood idly in front of her, made out of straw and a sack, the thing could take no more beatings, and, with one swoosh of her speedy hand, was torn apart. The girl, the one who stood in a tank and black pants, was indeed Kasai. She wiped her brow and forehead, then shrugged to herself before walking off with her jacket dragging in her hand. Once in her house, she grabbed out a water bottle and an apple out of the fridge and chowed down quietly. She sat in silence for a while, when she automatically stood up and shoved on her jacket and gloves, at the sound of the door bell. Quietly, mentally steadying herself, she walked towards the door, grasping the cold, metal nob, she opened the door silently.

In front of her stood a man, standing two feet taller than her, and wearing an intimidating military suit, he wore a slight curious expression. "Excuse me, are you perhaps... Kasai?" The man asked, speaking in an authoritive tone. She looked silently for a moment before responding. "Yes, that's me. Who are you?" His expression seemed to light up before he responded kindly. "I am Roy Mustang, and I'd actually like to talk to you about something." She furrowed her eyebrows forward and narrowed her eyes toward him. Where had she heard that name before? She was sure that her mother had mentioned that name, but where? Her eyebrows rose in surprise and her eyes widened in realization. "So you've figured it out, I assume?" The man said, staring down at the child. "I'm your father."

After those words left his mouth, the girl said nothing as she let him inside the house. "Explain." The words spilled out in to thick silence. The girl stared down at the ground, not daring to meet his gaze. "Your mother and I were married for a period of time, and you were born, but shortly after that, your mother left me when I began working as a state alchemist." The man explained, keeping a slight smug look on his face as he told the story. "So what do you want?" The sudden question seemed to surprise the man, and he leaned forward and looked her straight in the eyes with his answer. "I want you to come with me." "And why would I do that?" She glowered up at him while he looked down at her knowingly. "Because, you're my daughter," She gave him a look that dared him to continue his sentence. "And, your an amazing self-taught alchemist." The girl almost gasped out loud, before stopping herself and staring back at him in awe."So, you know I'm an alchemist, so what? What good will it do to come with you?" She accused, cutting him with her gaze.

"I'm a state alchemist myself, and I can see you have potential, if you come with me, you could improve your skills and take a test to become a state alchemist yourself." The two stared each other down, neither daring to blink.

"So, what's your decision?"


End file.
